NEWARK — They stand for hours at the doors we walk in and out of every day, though we hardly notice: The more than 20,000 privately hired security guards around the state.

They are paid a pittance for keeping us safe. Not nearly enough to support a family, nor even afford basic health care. And now, they’re hoping to unionize.

This week, Newark Mayor Cory Booker backed the push by the Service Employees International Union to get New Jersey security guards fair compensation — as it did already for nearly 10,000 in Manhattan. He’s right to cheer them on, because this is what unions were meant to stand for. Basic economic justice.

No padded pensions here: These are private employees, making an average of just $11.74 an hour, with very few benefits, according to a new union report.

Andre Lugo, a 30-year-old Newarker who works as security guard at PSEG headquarters on Park Place, is one of them. He has a decade of experience, but makes just $12.25 an hour. He hasn’t received a raise in more than four years. On this salary, he’s trying to support his mother, who was laid off, and younger brother.

He has no health benefits, because the package his company offers is too expensive. A doctor is a luxury he can’t afford. He got a tooth pulled that could have been easily saved if he’d only had $4,000. When another tooth cracked, he got an infection that spread to his cheek. He had to drop out of college and ditch his plan to become a teacher because he couldn’t afford the tuition.

He is why we still need unions. The movement has been decimated in recent years and, sure, it has its dark side: In some private sectors, unions have priced themselves out of market globalization. In the public sector, benefit costs spiraled out of control because unions had an unfair advantage at the bargaining table.

But janitors and security guards are a different story. You can’t outsource jobs like these, and their pay leaves little hope for a middle-class life.

When private employers don’t provide adequate wages and health benefits, it only shifts costs onto the public sector. About one in five security officers now receive food stamps and Medicaid, union officials say. They estimate that security company employees cost the state about $23.9 million annually in public health care.

Instead, let’s unionize them. If not for basic justice, then for simple economics: If we don’t, we all pay the price.